Discovery: bring more fans into your funnel
Ah yes, discovery: the art of bringing more fans into the top of your funnel.
This is where it all begins because fans need to know your work exists before they can ever become members. And the more your work is discovered, the more chances you have to build a fanbase.
As a creator, you’re likely already taking actions to get discovered by new fans. Maybe you share your work on social media like YouTube or Instagram. You have a newsletter or a website. You go on tour or show up at events. You collaborate with other creators or show up in community discussions. You share Quips or public posts on Patreon.
All of that is discovery. But let’s take it one step further and look at how those actions can work together as part of your conversion strategy.
Build from what you’re already creating
Getting more fans to discover your work does not mean you have to create more work. No really, it’s true!
Remember the 1-to-100 mindset from Get the most out of your posting strategy? Start with something you’re already creating and look for ways to slice and dice it so it can keep working for you.
Miniature-painting educator Malte Dueholm of Watchpaintdry_minis found plenty of discovery material in work he’d already created. He repurposed older Instagram work into Quips, an approach that drove one-third of his monthly revenue without requiring him to create something new from scratch.
⚡ Pro Tip: Your archive can be a great source of inspiration, too. Something you posted six months ago can be shared again, completely new to fans discovering you today.
Malte also uses Quips to give curious fans somewhere to go next. One quick tip debunked the idea that miniature painters need tiny brushes, then linked directly to a free hour-long Patreon video where fans could see the technique in action.
The Quip gets someone curious. The work already waiting on Patreon gives that curiosity somewhere to go.
And if a discovery post is getting attention in one place, try it in another! A clip your YouTube audience loved could become a Quip to reach new fans discovering work on Patreon. A Quip could become an Instagram post. A conversation in your community could inspire a poll or question for your broader fanbase.
You’re not trying to reinvent the wheel every time you want to reach new people. You’re giving your work more chances to find them. The right fan might not be there the first time you share something, but they could be there the next.
⚡ Pro Tip: Looking for more ideas? Check out Quip hall of fame: posts that sparked discovery for examples of different approaches creators are using to help new fans discover their work.
Make sure it feels like you
Building your discovery approach from work you already create isn’t just efficient, it also has another advantage: new fans get a real sense of you.
It can be tempting to chase whatever seems likely to get the most attention. Getting attention matters, but it helps when that attention connects back to the work you actually create. A TikTok dance might get plenty of views, but if you're a cooking creator, will those viewers be interested in seeing more of your cooking? (Unless you find a way to dance while cooking, in which case, congrats! That's super creative. Where can we follow you??)
The point is to get the right people interested. Think about what would catch the attention of someone who would genuinely enjoy what you create. Then, when they follow that curiosity to your Patreon, they can dive deeper into the work they already know they’re interested in.
That means filling the top of your funnel with people who have a real reason to keep moving through it.
Sims enthusiast and creator SimMattically did just this when he developed a solution for a common pain point in the Sims 4 community — losing progress after hours of play. He built two Quick Save Button mods and released them for free on Patreon. His public post got a strong response from the Sims community. By offering something Sims players genuinely wanted, he gave more of the right fans a reason to find their way into the top of his funnel.
Give fans a way to participate
The trick to discovery is finding ways to stop the scroll. An interesting image or video can do that. So can an invitation to participate.
Ask a question. Run a poll. Invite an opinion. Give new fans a low-effort way to engage, even if they just discovered you.
Participation can also give them a reason to come back. Vote in a poll and you’ll probably want to come back for the results. Share an opinion and you might want to see what everyone else has to say. One moment of engagement can lead to another.
And remember, you’re part of the community too. Follow creators you genuinely enjoy. Join conversations that interest you. Leave thoughtful comments. Vote in polls because you actually want to know what wins.
The more you participate in communities you genuinely want to be part of, the more naturally you get to know people and they get to know you. Sometimes discovery happens simply because you showed up as a fan first.
Try different approaches and give them time to work
There are lots of ways to get discovered, so give yourself room to experiment with what works for you, keep trying, and don’t give up.
On Patreon, Quips can create quick moments of discovery and participation. Try a question, teaser, image, clip, or something else that can catch someone's attention quickly. Public posts give you more room when you have a story to tell, something useful to share, or an idea that needs a little more context.
And keep experimenting outside of Patreon, too. Try different topics, formats, collaborations, and ways of sharing your work in the places you already show up.
You won’t always know what’s going to connect until you try. Treat what happens as something you can learn from.
Give yourself a few weeks or months to spot patterns. What consistently gets people to stop, talk, or explore? One quiet post doesn't mean an idea failed, and one huge post doesn't mean you've found the magic formula.
Christina Manuge of Manuge et Toi Design has found a discovery rhythm that works for her. She shares Quips four or five times a week, pulling from past work, newly published tutorials, and even projects her paid members have created using what she teaches.
That rhythm gives Christina plenty of chances to see what catches people’s attention and keep learning what her audience responds to. It also gives new fans regular glimpses of her work and plenty of reasons to get curious about what else they might find on her Patreon.
If you've been trying something consistently for a real stretch of time and nothing is connecting, take that as information. Change the topic, format, or angle and try again.
Keep what’s connecting. Adjust what isn’t. Then try again with a little more information than you had before.
Discovery connects to your funnel
As you develop your own discovery approach, remember to connect it to what comes next in your funnel. If someone stops, gets curious, and wants more, make the next step easy to find.
Maybe they explore another post, join a conversation, or become a free member on Patreon. Whatever that next step is, you've given the right fans a way into your world and a reason to keep exploring.
That's discovery working as part of your conversion strategy.
🧭 Your next steps
In the Patreon Conversion Strategy Workbook, use the Plan your discovery experiment activity to help you decide what you want to try
Decide what you want a new fan to do after discovering you. Do you want them to explore more of your work, visit your Patreon, join for free, or take another step that makes sense for your funnel?
Choose one Quip, one public post, and one social media post to test. You can pull from the ideas you generated in the One idea, many posts activity, something you’re already creating, or your archive.
Choose a posting rhythm that feels realistic to maintain for the next 4–6 weeks. Try it for that full period, then look at how fans responded and decide what you want to adjust.
Next, we’ll look at how free membership can give interested fans more reasons to stick around and keep coming back.
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